MIES (Switzerland) - The 2020-21 Basketball Champions League season, the fifth in the history of the competition, has adopted a new format for both the Regular Season and the Play-Offs, in order to safeguard the safety of players and fans in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nonetheless, there are still 32 teams taking part in the Regular Season and a roughly equally number of players as in previous seasons, so some figures are equally comparable to previous years. We took a look at all 32 rosters under the microscope and we came up with some fun comparisons:

The Seasoned Veterans and The Young Guns

Hakan Demir changed clubs but is coaching the youngest roster in the competition for a second year in a row!

The average age of all players who were registered for this BCL season was 26 years and 4 months (on December 30th), almost identical to the 2019-20 season.

Tofas Bursa have the youngest roster in the competition, with an average age of 23 years and 10 months, hence continuing the tradition of Turkish clubs fielding the youngest teams as last season it was Teksut Bandirma who held first place in terms of youth, with an average age of 22 years and 8 months (in late October 2019).

There is an even bigger link between these two sides of course, as coach Hakan Demir, who took the reins of Tofas in November, was the boss of that youthful Bandirma squad last season.

By stark contrast, AEK have a roster replete of veterans and its average age is 30 years and 7 months old (in December 2020).

That is slightly younger than the oldest roster in the 2019-20 edition of the competition, which belonged to Montenegrin club Mornar Bar thta had an average age of 30 years and 8 months in October 2019.

Interestingly, the oldest roster in the 2018-29 season of the BCL belonged again to a Greek club, PAOK.

The five youngest players (on December 30th) in the 2020-21 BCL are:

• Berke Buyuktuncel (Tofas Bursa) DoB: 02/09/2004 Age: 16 years 3 months 28 days
• Ege Demir (Tofas Bursa) DoB: 15/08/2004 Age: 16 years 4 months 15 days
• Martin Studnicky (ERA Nymburk) DoB: 06/07/2004 Age: 16 years 5 months 24 days
• Christodoulos Yiaxi (Keravnos) DoB: 05/04/2004 Age: 16 years 8 months 25 days
• Pavle Stosic (Casademont Zaragoza) DoB: 18/01/2004 Age: 16 years 11 months 12 days

The five oldest players (on December 30th) in the 2020-21 BCL are:

• Omar Cook (Hereda San Pablo Burgos) DoB: 28/01/1982 Age: 38 years 11 months 2 days
• Petr Benda (ERA Nymburk) DoB: 25/03/1982 Age: 38 years 9 months 5 days
• Aristides Koronides (Keravnos) DoB: 20/04/1982 Age: 38 years 8 months 10 days
• Erkan Veyseloğlu (Darussafaka Tekfen) DoB:13/03/1983 Age: 37 years 9 months 17 days
• Stefano Mancinelli (Fortitudo Bologna) DoB:17/03/1983 Age: 37 years 9 months 13 days

  
How much does size matter?

Felipe Dos Anjos of Bilbao edges teammate Ondrej Balvin for the unofficial title of the tallest player in the 2020-21 BCL

The average height of the players who take part in this season’s BCL is 197.6 cm, slightly shorter than the 2019-20 average height which was 197.9 cm as well as of the 2018-19 average, of 198 cm.

Filou Oostende are the tallest team, as the average height of their roster is an impressive 201.3 cm, clearly taller than the 2019-20 tallest team, which was Happy Casa Brindisi with an average roster height of 200.9 cm.

Keravnos on the other hand are the smallest team, as the average height of their roster is 193.2 cm, which is also the lowest average height in competition history.

The smallest team last season were Polski Cukier Torun, with an average roster height of 195.1 cm while in the 2018-19 season the average height of Opava’s roster was 194.4 cm.

The four tallest players are:

• Felipe Dos Anjos (RETAbet Bilbao Basket) - 2.18m
• Ondrej Balvin (RETAbet Bilbao Basket) - 2.17m
• Emircan Kosut (Darussafaka Tekfen) - 2.16m
• Giorgi Shermadini (Iberostar Tenerife) - 2.16m

The five shortest players are:

• David Holston (JDA Dijon) - 1.67m
• Ludovic Beyhurst (Limoges) - 1.72m
• Brandon Jefferson (SIG Strasbourg) - 1.73m
• Adi Cohen Sabban (Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem) - 1.78m
• Alberto Cabrera (Iberostar Tenerife) - 1.78m
  
  

 

It's (still) a guard’s world

Omar Cook is the oldest among the 205 guards and indeed the oldest of all 473 players in this year's competition

There are a total of 473 registered players in this season's BCL (in December, this number will still change somewhat by the end of the Regular Season) and it is truly interesting that the proportion of guards in the league has remained unchanged in the 2020-21 season, as perimeter players represent 43 percent of all registered players, the exact same percentage as in 2019-20.

Forwards have increased by 0.2 percentage points at the expense of centers, who have of course decreased by 0.2 percentage points.

Big men in the league this year are... as big as ever, since their average height remained unchanged at 207.9 cm while forwards' average height decreased by 0.2 centimeter and that of the guards by 0.4 centimeter.

• There are 205 guards, which represent 43% of all registered players, with an average height of 189.8 cm
• There are 187 forwards, which represent 40% of all registered players, with an average height of 201.7 cm
• There are 81 centers, which represent 17% of all registered players, with an average height of 207.9 cm
  
  

They came from all over the globe

Turk Telekom's Sam Dekker is one of 122 American players to compete in the BCL this season

Players of 43 different nationalities (up from 42 in the 2019-20 season) were registered for this season’s BCL and Europeans are the majority, as 324 players (68.1 percent of the total) come from the old continent.

This represents a slightly lower proportion than last season, when Europeans were 70 percent of all registered players, albeit in actual figures we had eight fewer (316) players from the old continent last season.

There are 131 players (27.5 percent) from the Americas, 19 players (4 percent) from Africa, and two players (0.4 percent) from the Asia/Oceania FIBA zone.

Top 10 nationalities in the 2020-21 BCL Season:

• USA: 122 players (25.6%)
• Turkey: 46 players (9.7%)
• France: 32 players (6.7%)
• Italy: 24 players (5.0%)
• Spain: 23 players (4.8%)
• Israel: 19 players (4.0%)
• Greece: 19 players (4.0%)
• Lithuania: 17 players (3.6%)
• Serbia: 13 players (2.7%)
• Belgium: 13 players (2.7%)
  
  
  

There is no place like home

Russian international Evgenii Baburin is one of 12 homegrown players on the Nizhny Novgorod roster

Teams with the highest percentage of players holding the nationality of the country’s club:

• Nizhny Novgorod (Russia): 12 players, 80% of this team's roster
• Tsmoki-Minsk (Belarus): 12 players, 75% of this team's roster
• Rytas Vilnius (Lithuania): 12 players, 71% of this team's roster
• Hapoel Holon (Israel): 12 players, 71% of this team's roster
• JDA Dijon (France): 8 players, 67% of this team's roster
• VEF Riga (Latvia): 8 players, 67% of this team's roster

Teams with the lowest percentage of players holding the nationality of the country’s club:

• Hereda San Pablo Burgos (Spain): 4 players, 29% of this team's roster
• Casademont Zaragoza (Spain): 5 players, 29% of this team's roster
• Cholet (France): 6 players, 35% of this team's roster
• RETAbet Bilbao Basket (Spain): 7 players, 41% of this team's roster
• Iberostar Tenerife (Spain): 7 players, 41% of this team's roster